Thursday, Apr. 07, 2011

JJ Grey is one talented Mofro

Melanie Martinez

 

IF YOU GO

WHAT | JJ Grey & Mofro

WHEN | 4 p.m. Sunday

WHERE | The Boathouse Waterway Bar & Grill, 201 Fantasy Harbour Blvd., Myrtle Beach

HOW MUCH | Free

CONTACT | Call 903-2628 or visit www.boathousemb.com

JJ Grey may bill his albums as JJ Grey & Mofro, but it's not like his band (Mofro) has ever really deserved equal billing.

That's because the vast majority of work on the albums has been done by Grey by himself. He writes all of the songs, makes detailed demos of the songs and records most of the instruments on his albums himself.

"They really contribute live," Grey said of Mofro in a recent phone interview. "But in the studio I've always had it pretty much done (myself), and then I just bring guys into play any time I get sick of hearing myself play. They can take what you do, and they're still going to change it a little bit because their feel might be a little different. But for the most part, it's kind of like I'll put sheet music right in front of them, but they learn it off of the (demo) CD."

Grey, who performs Sunday at The Boathouse with Mofro, has been mainly a do-it-yourself recording artist ever since the Jacksonville, Fla.-based musician formed the first edition of Mofro and made his first CD, the 2001 release, "Blackwater."

He's made four albums since then, the latest being the recently released "Georgia Warhorse."

Part of the reason Grey records most of the music for his albums instrument-by-instrument is a simple matter of practicality. The facility where all of his albums have been made, Retrophonics Studio in St. Augustine, Fla., is better suited to that approach.

"I mean, at Retrophonics you can set up and cut live, but that's a lot of people to have in at one time," Grey said. "And given the nature of touring, when you come off of the road, the prep work to set up to record that many people, it's a lot more (work)."

While Grey's approach to making records may have been the same from album to album (including using the same producer, Dan Prothero, on each of his CDs), his last three CDs, in particular, have each had distinctly different feels.

The 2007 release, "Country Ghetto," was primarily a gritty, rocking affair that also had a strong element of soul to its sound.

With the 2008 CD, "Orange Blossoms," Grey went for a considerably different vibe. The songs overall were more laid back and he frequently supplemented the basic guitar/bass/drums/keyboards instrumentation with strings or horns, which gave the CD more of a sleek feel.

Now on "Georgia Warhorse," Grey has stripped back his sound (although his Mofro horn players Art Edmaiston and Dennis Marion contribute to a few songs) and has gone for a more rough hewn style.

Like all of his albums, though, "Georgia Warhorse" is anything but one-dimensional. While songs such as "The Hottest Spot In Hell," "All" and "Slow, Hot & Sweaty" set a rocking tone for the album, there are also songs including "King Hummingbird," a gentle, folky and primarily acoustic tune, a song steeped in soul called "The Sweetest Thing" (which features reggae legend Toots Hibbert joining Grey on vocals), a spunky bit of Southern-flavored acoustic rock on "Hide & Seek" and some New Orleans-ish funk on "Diyo Dayo."

"I like an album to kind of be representative of several different feels, like a good story or a good film," Grey said. "There are angry, loud moments. There are quiet, tender moments, so to speak, or sad moments. There are happy moments. There are almost like laughing moments or whatever. And I like for a record to feel that way."

He also likes his concerts to have plenty of musical variety, not that he sweats over planning his shows down to the last detail. In fact, Grey generally doesn't use a set list for his concerts. He said his recent shows have had a good sampling of material from "Georgia Warhorse," but he's also finding room to include songs from all five of his albums.

What's notably different for this tour is the lineup of Mofro, which has undergone considerable change since "Orange Blossoms" was released. The holdovers in the lineup are drummer Anthony Cole, Edmaiston on saxophone and Marion on trumpet. But Grey has a new bassist in Todd Smalley (formerly of the Derek Trucks Band), a new guitarist, Andrew Trube, and a new keyboardist, Anthony Farrell.

Despite having several new musicians in Mofro, Grey said the group sounds pretty much the way it always has.

"I still get the same instrumentation, so to speak. It's like playing an electric piano, Wurli's (Wurlitzer keyboards) and organ, and then guitars and slide guitars," Grey said. "Trube is a great guitar player, and they're all great players. So it sounds great. There have been so many different people that I've played with over the years, they've all been great, and they've all been sort of committed to playing to the sound that I'm looking for. So it's always worked out."